NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities in New York have arrested and charged a lobbyist — one who worked on behalf of an ex-nursing home operator pardoned recently by President Donald Trump — with attempting to force a former client and his son to pay him $500,000, according to documents.
Joshua Nass, 34, of Charleston, South Carolina, appeared Saturday before a magistrate judge in Brooklyn on an attempted extortion charge unsealed the previous day, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said. Nass, who was being released on $5 million bond, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Court documents allege that starting in January Nass recruited and agreed to pay what the government calls a confidential witness to force the former client and intimidate his son into paying the amount that Nass claimed was owed for the client's services. The father and son are named in court documents only as “John Doe 1” and “John Doe 2.”
“Rather than honestly representing his client, Joshua Nass allegedly chose to shake him down by hiring an enforcer to extort payment," James Barnacle Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field office, said in a news release. "The FBI prioritizes crushing violent crimes offenses and extortion schemes.”
A federal lobbying disclosure form filed with the U.S. House and Senate dated Jan. 15, signed digitally by Nass and covering the final three months of 2025 listed Joseph Schwartz as a client. The form said the firm that Nass founded generated an estimated $100,000 in income for lobbying activities for the reporting period, with “federal presidential pardon advocacy” among his lobbying issues.
Trump had pardoned in November a man named Joseph Schwartz who had pleaded guilty in federal court in 2024 for his role in a $38 million employment tax fraud scheme involving nursing homes he owned across the country. Schwartz operated New Jersey-based Skyline Management Group.
Reached by phone, John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Saturday he had no comment about whether the allegations against Nass are related to activities involving Schwartz.
Nass was arrested outside of his New York hotel on Friday, the same day he had expected to meet with the confidential witness, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Nass’ attorney did not respond immediately to email and text messages seeking comment on the case.
According to a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nass agreed in December to provide lobbying services to the client, who signed an agreement to pay Nass $600,000 in exchange for the services. The son helped make a $100,000 payment but said he could not then pay the full amount and asked for “a payment plan,” which Nass viewed as an “insult,” the letter said.
Nass, who is also a licensed attorney in New York, had told the witness to go to the son's New York-area home to compel payment, but the son shut the door on him after being told Nass had sent him, court documents allege.
Between January and March, Nass and the witness discussed ways the witness could extort the payment, including assaulting the son or forcing him into a car with masked men and threatening him, according to the government's news release. Nass said he did not want the witness to behave "like a human being with” the son, an FBI agent's signed affidavit said.
FILE - The U.S. federal courthouse in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on Jan. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power Saturday after high winds raked eastward from the Great Lakes region, leaving trees down and substantial property damage in their wake. Farther west, at least one person died in a massive wind-driven wildfire in Nebraska.
Nearly 450,000 customers were still affected by midafternoon in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
A 66 mph (106 kph) gust at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday was deemed its fourth-strongest on record that was not caused by a thunderstorm, according to the National Weather Service. Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport saw winds hit 85 mph (137 km) that afternoon.
Winds took down a gas station canopy in New Franklin, Ohio, and an auto parts store sign in Baldwin, Pennsylvania. Trees and tree limbs fell into or onto homes and cars from Cleveland to Pittsburgh. The roof of a school building in the Chicago suburb of Niles, Illinois, was severely damaged by wind.
High winds fueled multiple wildfires across a broad swath of Nebraska’s range and grassland, causing one death in Arthur County, officials said. The victim was not immediately identified and the sheriff’s office did not disclose other details about the death.
What state officials have dubbed the Morrill County fire has burned at least 735 square miles (about 1,880 square kilometers) across four counties since Thursday. At least 12 structures have been destroyed, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.
Chelle Ladely of Sidney said her home was currently safe, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of the nearest fire. But she worries for other friends and family in the area.
“Smoke is filling the air, and at night I can see the burn of the fires on the horizon,” Ladely said. “My father is a crop agronomist, and his company as well as other local farmers are all gathering their water trucks to help aid with the fires, and truckloads of bottled water and food is being supplied by our good patrons for our volunteer firemen trying to extinguish the blazes.”
Several other wildfires pushed by winds of up to 65 mph (105 kph) burned another 225 square miles (about 580 square kilometers) for a total of nearly 938 square miles (about 2,430 square kilometers) by midday Saturday. The strong winds have kept firefighters from containing any of the fires, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said. Gov. Jim Pillen toured areas burned by the Morrill County fire.
In Chicago, thousands of revelers turned out to see the city's namesake river dyed bright green and a downtown parade celebrating the St. Patrick's Day holiday, despite the threat of snow and stiff winds that drove the feels-like temperature well below freezing.
Dangerous winds were but one piece of a wild weather mosaic that included heavy rains in Hawaii, triple-digit heat ahead in Phoenix and the return of winter cold to the Midwest and Northeast. Chicago was expected to approach the single digits Fahrenheit by Tuesday, with Minneapolis seeing lows around zero (minus 18 C).
Several Minnesota cities have already declared snow emergencies starting Sunday, when what could be the season’s largest snowfall is expected to hit. Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula are also in the crosshairs.
AccuWeather warned of a “potent triple-threat March megastorm” from Sunday into Monday.
“It’s definitely a very active weather weekend, that’s for sure,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist John Feerick said. “It’s a highly amplified pattern, which means you get a lot of extremes. Also, not just the Lower 48, but Hawaii’s getting hit hard right now with some very heavy rain.”
Feerick said people along the Wisconsin-Iowa border might see some ice as travel conditions become dangerous in large parts of the Upper Midwest.
Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska.
Malcolm and Lincoln firefighters respond to a wildfire in Denton, Neb., on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Kenneth Ferriera/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
In this photo provided by Maui County, a boat is grounded on a beach off Kihei, Hawaii, during heavy rain on Friday, March 13, 2026. (Maui County via AP)
